Arizona: Jason Rogers and Dodi Connor facing multiple child abuse and animal cruelty charges

ARIZONA -- The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is working an animal-cruelty case in far east Mesa after deputies helping to remove six children from the home observed filthy conditions and what appeared to be a labradoodle breeding operation, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Husband and wife Jason Rogers and Dodi Connor are facing multiple child-abuse charges, according to sheriff's Detective Douglas Matteson. Rogers will also face multiple misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and neglect, Matteson said.

Neither Rogers nor Connor was taken into custody on Monday.

Deputies seized 14 labradoodles for a veterinary evaluation and care in the Sheriff's Office's MASH Unit, or MCSO Animal Safe Haven, a no-kill shelter operated by women inmates.

The Sheriff's Office initially went to the home (11319 E Mercury Drive Apache Junction) to assist the state Department of Child Services as it conducted a child-welfare investigation that resulted in six children being taken into state custody, Matteson said. A DCS representative was not immediately available for comment Monday evening.

Animal-cruelty investigators got involved after a sheriff's sergeant at the scene notified them about conditions at the home near University Drive and Meridian Road, Matteson said.

"When we entered the residence with them, we noticed absolutely horrible conditions, feces everywhere," he said. "There were dogs running all over the place and covered in feces. ... We believe the residence was used as a breeding mill."

(AZCentral.com - Dec 12, 2016)